


The best birthday

by Arawynn



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Biker AU, Biker Bucky Barnes, Veterinarian AU, Veterinarian Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2018-09-22
Packaged: 2019-07-15 17:02:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16067468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arawynn/pseuds/Arawynn
Summary: Bucky is a biker and veterinary who also runs an animal shelter. It’s his birthday and his situation looks everything but rosy.





	The best birthday

Bucky sat in the office of his animal shelter/veterinary practice. He had opened it five years ago, after becoming a licensed veterinarian. In his imagination, it had been so easy. People would adopt the animals of his shelter in loving homes. And come to him with their pets for whatever they needed him for. Now everything he had was a fucking huge mess on his hands.

People didn’t trust him and avoided his shelter/practice. A tattooed biker couldn’t take care of their beloved pets, could he? And the animals he put up for adoption had to be trained to be dangerous and attack everyone around them. So the poor abandoned dogs, cats, birds and small animals didn’t find loving homes. But taking care of them was time-consuming and expensive.

During the past months, Bucky had barely managed to keep the wolf from his shelter’s door. Even at the cost of laying off the only person who had been on the payroll. But this month…this month he was not able to keep the wolf from his door. The bills were piling up till the ceiling.

He couldn’t pay them.

He couldn’t pay for the electricity to keep the animals warm.

He couldn’t buy the food they needed.

There was no money to replace the broken toys.

Or anything else that was broken. Like the fence around his run for the animals in the backyard.

Bucky was truly at a loss.

He just sat in his office, with all those bills on his desk and cried.

* * *

In the early afternoon, the door bell chimed. A very rare sound these days. Bucky fixed his appearance as much as possible – even though he could do nothing to hide his swollen eyes. After taking a deep breath, he left for the front desk to greet whoever strayed into his little animal shelter.

It was the ‘Howling Commando’, Bucky’s biker ‘gang’. They weren’t supposed to know about this place. Or his occupation. Bucky had never told them about his love for animals. Whenever they met, it was about tuning or riding their bikes, drinking beer and grilling meat. The veterinarian had honestly feared to be laughed at and abandoned by his friends if he ever talked about  _animals_.

And now they were standing there. In front of the greeting desk of his animal shelter. At least one bag of animal food tucked under the arms of every. Single. One. The really big bags that lasted one or two weeks each. The girls carried new toys and baskets for the dogs and cats. On closer inspection, some of the bags contained litter and bedding for the small animals.

Bucky was utterly shocked. “Hey boss.”, Clint grinned. “Y/N suggested you’d appreciate this a lot more than the birthday barbecue we had originally planned.”, Steve added. His grin was even bigger than Clint’s. Bucky was utterly floored a second time. He hadn’t expected Y/N to be this kind and thoughtful. He had fired her, after all.

The tears that streamed down his face were happy tears this time. “You…y’all are crazy! That food alone must’ve been hella expensive!”, Bucky scolded while hugging them. The tears hadn’t stopped and the eyes of his friends were suspiciously wet as well. “We deemed it more important than new leather jackets for everyone.”, Natasha said when Bucky hugged her.

“But…”, Bucky tried to protest, but Steve interrupted him. “We did a voting. Everyone balloted for helping you with the money we had already saved. So stop whining Buck. There’s a fence waiting to be fixed by us.” The guys cheered. “And some animals that wait for food, new toys and people to take care of them.”, Wanda added. This time, the girls cheered.

Bucky watched his tough biker gang swarm out in his little animal shelter. Taking care of the animals while said animals were all over them. Happy to receive some attention and love. Even the old cat-lady who hated and attacked everyone but Bucky. She had fallen in love with Wanda and the biker boss would be surprised if the old lady wouldn’t have a new home this evening.

“They’re living things up.”, Y/N said and gently bumped her shoulder against his. Bucky had been too much in awe to notice her. “It’s wonderful. I honestly don’t know how I deserve any of this.”, he answered, still fighting against a new wave of tears. “Oh, you still don’t know everything. The volunteers took really cool pictures of the animals to plug for the shelter. We’re also preparing a barbecue for the visitors – can’t let the meat go to waste, can we? The avails dig into the shelter to help pay for the bills. It’s supposed to start in an hour.”, she retorted with a cheeky grin.

Bucky bear-hugged her while losing the fight against his tears once again. “This turned from the worst into the best birthday ever. Thank you so much. For everything.”, he sobbed.

Exactly one hour later, the shelter was filled with people. They had quickly lost their fear of the bikers – after all how scary was a biker covered in kittens or pups? Bucky was asked questions about his animals all the time. The avails from food and drinks quickly reached and surpassed the goal – to pay every single bill on Bucky’s desk. Many people refused to take their change and insisted on donating it.

* * *

Late in the evening – the last visitor had left and almost half of the animals had found a loving home – Bucky, the volunteers and the Howlies sat together. Each of them a drink and something to eat in their hands. “Thank you everyone. From the bottom of my heart. Nothing could have made me happier than this day.”, Bucky said. “That was the goal.”, Sam smirked. “And it definitely wasn’t our last visit.”, Tony added.


End file.
